Musings and Nuggets

  And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!"  So God granted him what he requested.    1 Chron. 4:10 (NKJV) When I began to research the background on this Biblical figure,  part of me felt sorry for him.  The name his mother gave him, Jabez (in Hebrew) means "he makes sorrowful" because of the pain she had in birthing him.  Imagine the weight of knowing that your very name means pain . Jabez is only mentioned once in the Bible.  In Verse 9, he was said to be more honorable than his other brothers.  He grew up without a father, meaning he had no father figure to immulate, nor one to leave him an inheritance.   I imagine that his self-esteem was level to the ground.  So, he turned to God as his Father to bless him (territory), to be with him, to protect him, and that he not cause (any more) pain.   Whe

Hummingbirds are mesmerizing and entertaining to me.  One of the many amazing things about them is their memory.  They migrate south for the winter, so as I am seeing signs of some leaves beginning to ever so slightly display their Fall colors, it reminds me that they will soon be heading South for the winter. However, because of their amazing memories, they are able to return remembering the exact locations of the feeders that people like me put out for them to provide much needed *sustenance for their bodies.  Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.  Psalm 103:2 (NLT) 2  When we feel "peppered" with various tests/challenges in our lives, we sometimes tend to loose sight of all of the previous times when God has been faithful. We begin to focus on the size of the challenge we are facing instead of the "bigness" and faithfulness of our God!  We must feed our faith with prayer and scripture, while never losing sight of